218. 2. The Urim and Thummim on Aaron's ephod mean the things that are good and true in the Word's literal meaning. There were Urim and Thummim on Aaron's ephod. Aaron's priesthood represented the Lord's divine goodness and his efforts to save us. The clothes of Aaron's priesthood and sacred office represented divine truths from the Lord. The ephod represented divine truth in its outermost form, and therefore it represented the Word's literal meaning, since this is divine truth in its outermost form. The twelve precious stones called the Urim and Thummim alongside the names of the twelve tribes of Israel, then, represented all the divine truths combined that come from divine goodness.

In Moses we read the following about these stones:

[The artisans] are to make an ephod out of [gold,] blue, and purple threads, interwoven with double-dyed scarlet and cotton threads. Then they are to make a breastplate of judgment in the same fashion as the ephod. You will cover it with settings for stones. There will be four rows of stones: a ruby, a topaz, and an emerald in the first row; a chrysoprase, a sapphire, and a diamond in the second row; a lapis lazuli, an agate, and an amethyst in the third row; and an aquamarine, a sard, and a jasper in the fourth row. These stones will be next to the names of the sons of Israel. For the twelve tribes there will be engravings on a signet stone next to their names. Aaron will carry the Urim and Thummim on the breastplate of judgment. The Urim and Thummim should be over Aaron's heart when he walks before Jehovah. (Exodus 28:6, 15-21, 30)

The symbolic meanings of Aaron's clothes - his ephod, outer garment, inner garment, turban, and belt - have been given in Secrets of Heaven, published in London, in the treatment on this chapter [Secrets of Heaven 9834-9835, 9856-9878, 9905-9909]. There I showed that the ephod represents divine truth in its outermost form. Its precious stones represent truths made translucent by goodness. Twelve of them in four rows mean all truths of this kind from first to last. The twelve tribes mean every aspect of the church. The breastplate means the divine truth that comes from divine goodness in a universal sense. The Urim and Thummim mean the outermost radiance of the divine truth that comes from divine goodness. Urim means "shining fire. " Thummim means "radiance" in angelic language and "wholeness" in Hebrew. I also mentioned there that answers came through variations of light and a quiet awareness or else by direct verbal communication, and so on.

All this makes it clear that these stones stood for the truths in the outermost meaning of the Word that come from goodness. No other truths give answers from heaven. The divine emanating influence is fully present in the Word's outermost meaning.

156. 6. Our spirits are our minds and whatever comes from them. Our "spirit" really means nothing else but our mind. Our mind is what lives on after death. It is then called a spirit. If it is good, it is called an angelic spirit and later on an angel. If it is evil, it is called a satanic spirit and later on a satan. For each one of us, our mind is our inner self, our true self. It lives inside our outer self that constitutes our body. When our body is cast aside, which death does for us, we are in a complete human form.

People are wrong, then, to believe that our mind exists only in our head. Our mind is present in our head only in its primary structures. Everything that we think with our intellect and do from our will first emanates from these primary structures. In the rest of our body, our mind is present in extensions of these primary structures that have been designed to allow us sensation and action. Because our mind is inwardly connected to the parts of our body, our mind supplies those parts with sensation and motion and also inspires awareness as if our body thought and acted on its own, although every wise person knows this is not how it is.

Now, because our spirit thinks with its intellect and acts with its will, and our body thinks and acts not on its own but with the help of our spirit, it follows that our "spirit" means our intelligence and our type of love, as well as whatever emanates from our love and intelligence and has an effect.

Many passages in the Word make clear that our "spirit" means the nature of our mind. When I quote only a few of these passages, anyone will be able to see that this is exactly what "spirit" means. The following are just a few of the many:

And Bezaleel was filled with the spirit of wisdom, intelligence, and knowledge. (Exodus 31:3)

Nebuchadnezzar said of Daniel that there was "an excellent spirit" of knowledge, intelligence, and wisdom in him (Daniel 5:12).

Joshua was filled with the spirit of wisdom. (Deuteronomy 34:9)

Make yourselves a new heart and a new spirit. (Ezekiel 18:31)

Blessed are the poor in spirit, because the kingdom of the heavens consists of such people. (Matthew 5:3)

I live among people with a beaten and humble spirit so that I may revive the spirit of the lowly. (Isaiah 57:15)

The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit. (Psalms 51:17)

I will give a cloak of praise to replace a constricted spirit. (Isaiah 61:3)

And so on.

"Spirit" can also mean the nature of a corrupt and unjust mind, as the following passages make clear:

He spoke to the foolish prophets who follow their own spirit. (Ezekiel 13:3)

Conceive garbage, give birth to stubble; in your spirit, fire will consume you. (Isaiah 33:11)

A man who is a wanderer in his spirit and who babbles a lie. (Micah 2:11)

A generation whose spirit was not steadfast with God. (Psalms 78:8)

A spirit of promiscuity. (Hosea 5:4; 4:12)

To melt every heart and constrict every spirit. (Ezekiel 21:7)

What has come up in your spirit will never be done. (Ezekiel 20:32)

Provided there is no guile in their spirit. (Psalms 32:2)

The spirit of Pharaoh was disturbed. (Genesis 41:8)

Likewise the spirit of Nebuchadnezzar (Daniel 2:3). These and many other passages make it obvious that our "spirit" means our mind and its characteristics.